All the direct work you do with the Registry happens
inside the reasonably friendly confines of a program called the
Registry Editor, which enables you to view, modify, add, and delete
Registry settings. It also has a search feature to help you find
settings and export and import features that enable you to save
settings to and from a text file.
To launch the Registry Editor, select Start, type regedit
into the Search box, and then press Enter. When the User Account
Control dialog box shows up, enter your credentials to continue.
Figure 1
shows the Registry Editor window that appears. (Note that your Registry
Editor window might look different if someone else has used the program
previously. Close all the open branches in the left pane to get the
view shown in Figure 1.)
Caution
The
Registry Editor is arguably the most dangerous tool in the Windows 7
arsenal. The Registry is so crucial to the smooth functioning of
Windows 7 that a single imprudent change to a Registry entry can bring
your system to its knees.
